UBS pulls out of Zurich development project
The SFr1.5 billion ($865 million) Eurogate project at Zurich's main railway station has been put on hold after Switzerland's largest banking group, UBS, decided not to proceed with plans to buy the development.
The bank said in a statement that a number of preconditions, including obtaining planning permission, could not be fulfilled within the time limit stipulated in the conditional contract.
Last May, UBS, Eurogate Zürich and the project’s owner, ARGE Eurogate, signed a conditional sale contract based on a declaration of intent dating from April 2000.
Under this contract, all rights and duties arising in connection with the Eurogate project would have been transferred to UBS subject to certain conditions being fulfilled.
According to UBS, planning permission was blocked following objections lodged by the Zurich section of the Motoring Club of Switzerland. As a result, construction work could no longer begin in mid-June 2001, a necessary precondition for co-ordination with the railways.
The Eurogate service centre development was first proposed 30 years ago, and was to include commercial and residential space within the development.
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